Hollingsworth’s latest social media update lays out her priorities this budget amendment season
When it comes to the rosters of budget amendments earmarked for spending in their own districts, the Seattle City Council is facing a more challenging political environment this year. District 3 representative and Council President Joy Hollingsworth is facing the same difficult financial landscape as she pushes her proposed 2027-2028 budget updates forward including a plan to boost the economy in the Central District and another that could help fund the revival of neighborhood councils in Seattle.
The Seattle City Council is digging into budget deliberations Tuesday, opening the first of three days of debate over member-sponsored amendments to Mayor Katie Wilson’s 2027–2028 budget proposal and plan to wipe out a $175 million city deficit.
Between Tuesday and Thursday, councilmembers will review dozens of Council Budget Actions and Statements of Legislative Intent across City Hall before budget committee chair Dan Strauss unveils his balancing package next week.
Tuesday’s opening budget committee session addressed 16 departments including the City Attorney’s office, civil rights, the Office of Housing, the Department of Neighborhoods, planning, finance, and infrastructure utility departments.
With the focus on eliminating the deficit without cutting vital services, councilmembers are describing a limited playing field with little room for maneuvering or negotiation and are buttressing their district and neighborhood needs as part of wider citywide programs.
Hollingsworth’s roster of amendments focused on neighborhood reinvestment, tenant protection, and civic participation is a good example.
Leading the package is Hollingsworth’s proposal, co-sponsored by Rob Saka and Dionne Foster, which earmarks $2.5 million annually alongside two full-time equivalent positions to launch a Central District and Southeast Seattle Reinvestment Program. The Hollingsworth-led initiative would establish a grant process to deliver operational funding to community organizations as part of investments across the city’s southern core.
Additionally, Hollingsworth partnered with Debora Juarez and Bob Kettle on a budget action proposing $100,000 annually to support a revival of Seattle neighborhood councils. The spending comes a decade after the city removed much of its support for a former neighborhood council system over concerns the groups did not fully represent their communities.
Hollingsworth is also leading a measure adding $500,000 in support to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections to lift the city’s baseline tenant services budget to $3 million in 2027 for eviction defense, legal representation, and renter education.
Other headline amendments from the first session targeted court backlogs, affordable housing, and urban land use. Councilmembers proposed a coordinated push for the City Attorney’s Office to address a backlog of roughly 5,000 misdemeanor cases — a third of which involve domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or elder abuse — by proposing $1 million in flexible 2027 relief funds, $1.28 million to hire four assistant city prosecutors, and $277,000 annually to contract out toxicology testing under state law.
On the housing front, Foster introduced a $10 million appropriation for rental and homeownership units in 2027 alongside companion legislation requiring unspent JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax balances to automatically roll over year-to-year, a move hoped to counter the mayor’s proposal to cut $65 million from the 2026 Office of Housing budget.
Other key proposals include a $3 million plan by Alexis Mercedes Rinck to fund a public market in Highland Park, an ordinance to divert at least 70% of new “Do Not Solicit” penalties toward anti-displacement legal and home repair assistance for homeowners, an assessment on building affordable housing at SPU’s newly acquired 18-acre Yesler Creek site, and a formal scoping study to examine lidding I-5 near the new Pinehurst light rail station.
Deliberations continue Wednesday with presentations turning to Seattle Parks, the Seattle Department of Transportation and the Seattle Fire Department where a debate over a proposed cut to firefighter overtime is likely to be a center of the session.
Thursday’s session will include the Seattle Police Department as councilmembers take on questions around spending on police hiring in the mayor’s plan that calls for capping the department at 1,250 officers as part of measures to cut the forecast deficit.
CHS reported here on Wilson’s full budget proposal which would wipe out an inherited $175 million deficit without tax increases or withdrawals from city reserves. The proposal would cut roughly $50 million annually in General Fund spending by eliminating 128 positions and adjusting a department’s projected funding to what it has spent in recent years, pairing these cuts with $50 million in shuffled funding — primarily leveraging JumpStart payroll tax revenues to cover core services and homelessness programs — and enabling the city, Wilson says, to project balanced budgets through 2030 without drawing on reserves.
The plan requires compromises along the edges on things like firefighter overtime and hiring new cops — unless the council’s amendment process digs up ways to cover the costs.
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